Marking-machine



C. F. ROBBINS.

MARKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION mmAPn. 17. 1919.

1,365,062. mm Jan. 11,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

C. F. ROBBINS. IARKING IAOHINE' APiucAnol FILED A". 11. 1919.

1,365,062. Patented"Jan.11',1921.

Z SHEETS-SHEET 2- which the work issupported and a printing a UNITEDSTATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

cnlmnns r. ROBBINS, or soon: WEYMOUTH, massacnosn'r'rsfnssrenon 'romnnxnm MACHINE COMPANY, or BOSTON, massacnusnrrs, A amm- TION OFMASSACHUSETTS.

MARKING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 17, 1919. Serial No. 290,799.

tion, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to marking machines or printing machines of thattype which involve a work-supporting platen on head movable toward andfrom the platen and carrying printing characters. One of the objects ofthe invention is to provide a marking machine of this type in which themovement of the printing head away from the platen is upwardly andrearwardly so that when theprinting head is in its retracted position itis situated not only above, but to the rear of the platen.

Anotherobject of the invention is to provide a novel meansfforsupporting and op erating *tliefprinting head by which the printing facewill'always be maintained in parallel relation'with the platenin allpositions of theprinting head, and still another object of theinventionis' to provide a marking machineof thistypehavingayieldingly-sustained platen with means for auto-' matieally lockingtheplaten from upward movement, andnmeans .to release the'lock when theprinting head is in printing position."

Other objects of theiinvention are to imp ove marking machines of thistype, all as willbe 'more'fully hereinafter set forth.

In order to givej'an understanding. of my invention, 1 haveillustratedinthe drawings a selected embodiment thereof which will nowbe described,after whi chthe novel featu'res will bepointed out the appended.

claims. 1 k

In the'drawings, Figure 1 is a verticalsectional view of -a markingmachine embody]- ing my inventions ing the. printing head in printingposit?!) i "Fig.2isa

ctr n on the line 2 2, 1'; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig.1{showing theprinting head mats-:amma position; 1 indicates asuitableframe which isdesigned to be placed on ab ench or table and WlllCh supports theoperative parts of-the machine. The Work-supporting platen is shown at 2and it is carried by a plunger 3 which 1s mounted for vertical movementin the frame and which is acted upon by asuit-' able spring 4 tending tohold it yieldingly Patented Jan. 11,

in its elevated position. The printing head" is shown generally at 5,and it is mounted for movement toward and from the platen 2, as usual inprinting machines of this type. The printing head may have anysuitableconstruction, that herein shown being of the famillar type whichincludes a plurality of type disks 6, each having a plurality of typecharacters 7 thereon, and each being rotatably mounted in the head so asto bring any one of its type characters into printing posis.

tion. This type of printing head is more or less commonly used inprinting machines of th s character. The printing head is sustained on.a supporting arm 8 which is mounted for movement upwardly andrearwardly from the position shown in Fig.1 to that shown in Fig. 3.This movement of the arm is of such character that the printing face ofthe printing head will be always parallel with the platen in allpositions of 1 the arm. The supporting arm 8 is shown as "pivotallyconnected at 11 and 12 to two rocking members 9 and 10 that are mountedon two parallel. shafts 13 and 14 that are carried in the frame 1. Theserocking members 9 and 10 are also connected by links 15,

said links-beingpivoted to the rocking members at 16 and 17,respectively. The rock.-

ing members 9 and 10, links 15 and arm 8 thus make a sort ofparallel-ruler construc- 10 are swung from the position shown in Fig 1to that showriin Fig. 3, the arm 8 will be carried upwardly andrearwardly and tion, and whenithe rocking members9 and during the entireextent of movement of the arm, it will be parallel to the positions 5shown in Figs. 1 and 3. The rocking members 9 and 101maybe given theirrocking movement by any suitable means. I have herein shown. the member9 as pivotally connected at 18 to a link or connecting rod 19 which in vturn is pivotally connected to the crank pin 20 of a crank arm 21carried 'b a driving shaft 22. Hence at. each rotation of the drivingshaft, the printing head will be moved from its retracted position shownin Fig. 3 into its printing position shown in Fig. 1 and then back intoits retracted position again. One advantage of this construction is thatthe retractive movement of the printing head is upwardly and rearwardlyso that when the printing head is in its retracted position it is backof the platen and thus does not interfere at all with the operation ofplacing work on or removing it from the platen.

23 indicates an inking pad which is carried by supporting arms 24 thatare hung from the frame 1. .This inking pad is situated so that the typecharacters of the printing head will be brought into contact therewithwhen the printing head is at the extreme limit of its rearward movement,as shown in dotted lines Fig.- 3.

The arms 24 are shown as pivotally hung on the frame 1 at 43, the upperends of said arms being connected by a bridge portion 44. This bridgeportion has a bolt or rod 45 screw-threaded thereto, which bolt extendsloosely through an opening in a. lug or ear 46 formed on the frame. 47is a spring encircling said rod and situated between the lug or ear 46and the head 48 at the end of the rod, said spring yieldingly holdingthe inking pad 23 in its proper position. A collar 19 adjustahly mountedon the rod 45 limits the upward movement of the inking pad. When thetype are brought into engagement with the inking pad the spring 47permits said pad to yield downwardly slightly and then returns the padto the position shown in the drawings. Thus a proper engagement of thetype with the ink pad is always assured.

It will be noted that the rocking members 9 and 10 are so constructedand arranged that when they swing from the position shown in Fig. 1 tothat shown in Fig. 3, the centers 11 and 12 will be carried to the rearof the pivotal shafts 13 and 14. \Vhen the centers 11 and 12 aredirectly over the shafts 13 and 14, the arm 8 will be in its highest ormost elevated position, and the movement of the rocking members fartherto the rear into the dotted line position, Fig. 3, will result inlowering the printing head. Hence the retracting movement of theprinting head is first an upward and rearward movement and then adownward and rearward movement.

The driving shaft 22 is actuated by a suitable clutch device indicatedgenerally at 25 which is constructed to bring the shaft to rest in thefull line position Fig. 3 with the printing head slightly separated fromthe inking pad. When the machine is started the initial rotativemovement of the driving shaft will swing the rocking members 9and 10into the dotted line position, Fig. 3, thus lowering the printing headinto contact with the inking pad 23, and continued rotative movement ofthe shaft lll then move the printing head upwardly and forwardly fromthe inking pad, and then downwardly and forwardly to bring the printinghead into printing position shown in Fig. 1. The printing head will,therefore, always be freshly inked each time that the machine is platenautomatically in its depressed po-- sition each time that it is loweredand means for releasing the lock each time a printing impression is madewhereby different thicknesses of stock can be printed on withoutrequiring any adjustment in the position of the platen.

The platen 2 has associated therewith means for automatically looking itin depressed position and means are provided for releasing the lock eachtime the printing head is in printing position so that during the makingof the printed impression the platen is free to be moved upwardly by thespring 4, thus insuring a proper pressure of the type on the work.

The plunger or stem 3 has a collar 26 on its lower end to which ispivotally connected one end of a link 27, the other end of said linkbeing pivoted to a lever 28 that in turn is pivoted to the frame at 29.The rear end 'of this lever has ahead 30 formed with a curved surface 31that is concentric with the axis 29. 32 indicates a locking lever whichis pivoted to the frame at 33, said lever carrying at its end a lockingroll 340 which is adapted to engage the surface 31. The construction ofthe locking lever 32 is such that the roll 340 is situated above a linejoining the centers 33 and 29 and, therefore, any tendency to move thefriction surface 31 downwardly will result in locking the lever 28 frommovement; The locking roll 340 permits the friction surface 31, however,to move upwardly freely. Downward movement of the platen 2 .will swingthe head 30 of the lever 28 upwardly, and hence the lock herein shown issuch as to freely Kermit the platen to move downwardly.

he roll 340, however, cooperates with the friction surface 31 to lockthe platen from upward movement. Means are provided whereby this lock isautomatically released each time that the printing head is carried intothe position shown in Fig. 1 so that while the printing impression isbeing made the platen is free to be moved vertically. This releasing ofthe lock is herein provided for by means of an arm 34 which is rigidwith the locking lever 32 and extends upwardly therefrom and which isadapted to be engaged by a projection 35 carried by the links 15 whenthe parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1. This projection 35 isshownas in the form of a bridge connecting the twolevers 15 andas'carrying an adjusting screw 36 that engages the upper end of the arm34. I

Under some circumstances it is desirable to make the same printedimpression on a plurality of pieces of sheet material, and when this isto be done, the various pieces of sheet material may all be stacked upand the stack placed on the platen 2. When the machine is set inoperation the printing head will be lowered into contact with the toppiece of the stack and the movement of the head will force the platendownwardly against the action of the spring 4 until the printing headhas reached the lower limit of its movement, this downward movement ofthe platen being freely permitted by the lock herein described.

As the printing head begins its return or .retractive movement the lockbecomes operative to hold the platen in its depressed position.While-the printing head is retracted the operator will remove the topsheet from the stackwith the printed impression, and upon the nextdownward movement the printing head will make a printed impress'ion onthe sheet which is now exposed to the top. As the printed impression ismade, the lock is released so that the spring 4 acts to raise the platenan amount equal to the thickness of the sheet which has been removed,whereby a proper printing contact will be provided between the printinghead and the top sheet of the stack. Thus the successive sheets may be'printedand removed as they are printed and the platen will graduallymove' up under the influence of t e spring 4 as theprinted sheets areremove i This construction also has the advantage successively printedwithout ,making any adjustment of the platen to accommodate varyingthicknesses, for at each printing wardly against the action of thespring .4

into a position corresponding to the thick- A downward movement of theplaten, a lever connected to said platen and having a friction lockingface, a locking lever pivoted to the frame and having a roll engagingsaid .friction face, vertically-extending arm rigid with said lever, aprinting head, actuating means therefor by which the printing head ismoved toward and from the platen, and a projection carried bysaidactuating means and adapted to engage said arm when the printinghead is in printing position thereby to release the lock.

2. In a marking machine, the combination with a frame, of two rockingmembers pivoted thereto to turn about parallel axes, a supporting armpivotally connected to the ends of the rocking levers, a printing headcarried by said arm,.means to oscillate said rocking members from aposition in which the pivotal connections between), said members andsaid supporting arm and the axes about which said members rock are inline to a position where the pivotal connections between said membersand arm are above but back of said axes, a platen situated to be enga edby said head when the arm is in the rst-named position, and an inkingpad situated to he engaged by said head when the arm is in thelast-named position.

3 In a marking machine, the combination w' h a platen, of two levermembers pivoted intermediate of their ends to turn about parallel axes,a link connecting said lever members at one end, a supporting armpivotally connected to said members at the other end, a printing headcarried by said arm, and means c onnected to one of said lever membersand arranged to oscillate them from a horizontal position to e aposition slightly beyond a vertical position, "and a platen with whichthe printing head engages when the lever members are in their horizontalposition. i i

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.impression the platen will be forced down-

